I refer to the letter by Nyal Xuereb (Little Egrets in Malta, TMID 1 September).

Perhaps the building of many areas has seen the decline of the Barn Owl... but we all know that the last pair breeding in Gozo were shot during the breeding season, and the young were found starved in the nest.

Two shotgun cartridges were found under the area where they bred. I saw one a few years ago in Mistra in the winter months. A few months later, again in the so called “rabbit season”, a local hunter shot the bird as it flew out of its roosting hole in Selmun. The bird was later registered under another amnesty given to hunters.

Perhaps the shooting of kestrels, peregrines and jackdaws and not the buildings have sent our population into a nosedive. We now have the reputation in the world where not one species of raptor now breeds. Even Hong Kong, with a much larger population, has a huge breeding population of Black Kites.

Gibraltar, a fraction of Malta, has several pairs of Peregrines, but here in Malta with so many beautiful cliffs and bastions, we have managed to eliminate these graceful predators. I sometimes look with complete disgust at our now empty skies.

The Maltese Falcon only remains as a nostalgic film! Peregrines have increased everywhere, they now breed in every major city across the world, from Rome to Perth, Calgary to Toronto! Yet here with all the laws we now have, there still is a handful of shooters who are hell bent on bringing down anything which flies!

Ray Vella

Mellieha